Counting homicide cases in D.C.

In December, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced that her department has achieved a 94 percent closure rate for homicides in 2011. But a close look at the case by The Washington Post reveals that police closed 62 of 108 homicides that year, a 57 percent rate. Lanier's department achieved the higher rate by including about 40 cases from earlier years that were closed in 2011. The chief says FBI guidelines allow her to count cases that way.

For the past two months, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier has touted the city's astronomically high homicide closure rate -- 94 percent for 2011 -- and warned anyone contemplating murder in the District to think twice.